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To the Albert Lea baseball team.

Fifty-two years. That’s how long it has been since the Albert Lea baseball team won the section title and advanced to the state tournament in 1969.

We cannot begin to say how proud we and the rest of the community are to see this year’s team achieve this milestone, even amidst some challenging games this season.

We congratulate not only each of the players, but also their coaches, assistants and the parents for the support they have shown.

It was exciting to see social media light up with positivity about the team Wednesday night and Thursday morning as the team came back from a loss in its first game against Byron and then went on to change their course in the second game for the win.

As senior Jack Jellinger said after the game, this team “made history.”

We hope the team members know how much the community is rooting for them as they move into their first game of the state tournament on Tuesday at the Mini Met in Jordan.

Good luck, Tigers!

To people who leave their dogs unattended in hot vehicles.

It seems like common sense at this time of year not to leave your dogs unattended in a hot car for any period of time, but we feel a need to bring it up again.

Already this year there have been complaints about dogs being left in vehicles even when the temperatures have been soaring.

According to the American Kennel Club, temperatures can rise to dangerous levels in just minutes, putting dogs at risk. Even a vehicle parked in 70-degree weather can reach 100 degrees in just 20 minutes. On even hotter days, temperatures inside parked cars can climb to 140 degrees in less than an hour.

Studies have actually shown that cracking a window does very little; in fact, a parked car with the windows cracked heats up at almost the same rate as a car with the windows rolled up, the American Veterinary Medical Association has found.

We urge people to keep your dogs at home at this time of year if you do not have an air-conditioned vehicle or to make plans to travel with another adult who can remain in the car with your pet with the air conditioner on.

Increasing drought impacts across the Upper Midwest.

Severe drought conditions are expanding into Minneosta and are now covering portions of Michigan, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service.

Moderate to severe drought covers 46% of Minnesota and 57% of Iowa, and 27% of the Midwest is considered in drought. With continued sunny, dry days forecasted for the next week, this will likely intensify further.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, Freeborn County and much of southern Minnesota are considered to be in a moderate drought at this time. Parts of southwestern Minnesota are beginning to have severe drought.

If conditions worsen, this could raise risks of crop stress and wildfires. Much of Minnesota has already been at increased risk for wildfires for the last few months and some places have burn bans in place. 

The Weather Service states crops are showing early season stress as a result of the dryness and warmer temperatures. Without rain, some farmers are worried about a reduction in yields, too.